Mathtopia – Best Math Facts App Ever!

For all you teachers (and parents) with iPads, I recently discovered a great app for reinforcing math facts. I am a big fan of making learning fun, andMathtopia does just that. The game incorporates aspects of the popular arcade game Bejeweled, which not only makes it highly addictive (or as 9-year-old Claire says, “addictingly fun”), but it also adds a challenging element of logical thinking into the game.

How Mathtopia Works

Students answer math facts by touching tiles on the screen. One nice feature is that the user can select either the answer or the expression first. So, an effective strategy is to select an answer on the right and then find all of the correct expressions. When a problem is solved, the tile turns solid and can be moved. When three tiles of the same color are placed in a row, they all disappear – which is where the logic part comes in. When a student chooses the wrong tile, it gets “locked,” which means it cannot be moved. Fortunately, there are a couple of tiles that show up every so often to help – a hammer, which can be used to smash the locked tile, and a shuffle tile, which can be used (you guessed it) to shuffle the tiles.

Why I Like Mathtopia

Of course, the game aspect is great (love the bright colors and fun sounds), but the folks at Top Shelf Learningreally did their homework in brain research and motivation. For example, in many games users get rewarded by randomly guessing. The locking tile feature takes care of that. Accuracy counts big time in this game. I also like that students see all of the possible expressions for an answer and that they are repeated for building fluency. The game is also timed, so the user will get more stars at the end of a level for solving the problems quickly. I also really like the spatial piece (lining up the tiles). Sometimes students with great spatial skills struggle in other areas of math. The spatial component will motivate them to learn those facts.

How to Get Mathtopia

Mathtopia covers all of the basic facts in addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. It comes in two flavors. You can download Mathtopia from the App Store and try it for free and then purchase additional levels within the app. If you know you are going to get all four levels, the better option is Mathtopia+, which costs $3.99 for all four games and works with Apple’s special pricing for teachers.

You actually make it seem really easy together with your presentation but I find this matter to be really one thing which I think I would never understand. It seems too complex and extremely large for me. I'm having a look ahead to your subsequent publish, I will try to get the hang of it.

Here are 20 autumn-themed task cards that will work perfectly at a center or for any student who finishes his or her work early. Each card features a different fall-related, open-ended challenge; perfect for working on those creative and critical thinking skills!

Stop complaining about Back to School costs!!! This is for all the hard working teachers in the world. #buytheyellowbinder #hugateacher TAG a teacher who needs to hear this! (When I'm mad my Jersey accent comes out.) "Like" and "Follow" my page for more funny videos and join me on Tuesdays at 9:00 pm for Tipsy Tuesday, LIVE on FB.